March 2022 Newsletter

Seeking God’s Blessing

It is always an honor to highlight the goodness of God through transitional stories of those who call the Union Rescue Mission home.  Residents of the Mission become family to those who work most closely with them.  Timmy and Taylor, along with their beautiful son Stone, are no stranger to this “adoption”.  

Aaron Mohler, Outreach Coordinator, has known Timmy for approximately 8 years, prayerfully keeping in touch with and ministering to him throughout that time.  Meeting each other in a halfway house in Frederick, Maryland, they developed a friendship that would eventually bring both of their lives to overlap at the Union Rescue Mission many years later.  While living in the Frederick area, seeds of faith and freedom were sown into Timmy’s life by Aaron.  Timmy eventually decided to leave the Frederick area and enrolled in U-Turn for Christ in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, with Aaron being his mode of transportation.  At U-Turn, Timmy gave his life to Christ, surrendering to God’s will and pursuing His call for his life.  It was at U-Turn that Timmy met Taylor.  They decided to pursue their own path, leaving U-Turn and moving to South Carolina in order to be closer to Taylor’s family.  This decision lead them back to old habits and a neglect of the call placed on their lives. 

In November 2021, Timmy reached out to Aaron, desiring to make a true change.  He and Taylor were living in active addiction, raising a baby, and knew help was needed to get back on the path that had been abandoned at U-Turn.  With Aaron’s help, Timmy moved from South Carolina into the Axis House of the Union Rescue Mission in order to enter the discipleship program, pursuing Christ, sobriety, and a fresh start.  Shortly after his coming to Western Maryland, his then fiancé Taylor felt drawn to come to the Rescue Mission, bring their baby Stone, and leave behind the life they had created in South Carolina.  Their dual residency is not new territory for the URM staff.  Multiple unmarried couples have resided at the URM, staying in separate areas of the building.  The ease at which this situation was addressed was in part because of the decisions this couple had already made.  Timmy and Taylor had previously decided to put aside their old ways and voluntarily elected to maintain distance as a couple, knowing they wanted to be married and be right in the eyes of God.  Though Timmy initiated this new journey, moving north prior to Taylor, Taylor’s lead in desiring to do things “the right way” allowed each to grow in who God is calling them separately to be.  Her drive to pursue God first and build their relationship on the Solid Rock empowered Timmy to step into his role as a Godly leader for his family.  In Timmy’s own words, he states he is able to “find the joy following the Lord even when it’s tough not following the world.” The change in both is obvious, as is the case when an individual truly surrenders to Christ and is transformed as He desires.

Currently, Timmy and Taylor are doing amazingly.  Timmy is working full time at Hunter Douglas and supporting his family.  On February 13th, before their congregation at Calvary Chapel and the Lord, Timmy and Taylor pledged their lives to one another in marriage.  They are actively moving into their new home and looking forward to being together as a family as God had purposed. Per Timmy, he was able to leave “a place riddled with addiction and come into a place of hope.”  We are truly thankful to have met, known, and witnessed the growth Timmy and Taylor have undergone in their tenure at the URM.  They fittingly chose to close their wedding ceremony singing “Build My Life” with their congregation to start their new married life together.  Please join us in praying for Timmy, Taylor and Stone as they begin their new life together, building it on the love of Christ!  If you wish to send wedding cards of congratulations, please send them to:

Timmy and Taylor Nash
PO Box 1614
Cumberland, MD 21501    

A Future Home

It is no secret that the property that currently encompasses the Union Rescue Mission has been pursued by the Cumberland Economic Development Committee for the past few years in order to begin development of a future transportation hub.  16 Queen City Pavement has been the home of the URM since 1963 when the call to care for the homeless in the area was first heard by Reverend Cecil Taylor and his wife, Janie.  Since that time, hundreds of individuals and families have called the shelter home, utilizing our services to seek refuge from the cold, to partake in a hot meal, or simply to find the hope needed to begin a new life separate from the one they have left behind.  As time goes on, the population served at the mission has evolved from the transient homeless hopping trains in the 1970s to the single mom seeking sobriety and a fresh start in the more recent past.  This change in population and need has lead to the addition of staff to meet those needs, reflected in the weighty work load faced by the resident managers, the male and female case managers, and the outreach/addictions counselor.  It is no coincidence that at a time when single female resident census is at an all time high with no reprieve in sight, the female Hope House has been full with families, and the men’s dorm has been to maximum capacity for the majority of the previous year, the talk and draw of a move for the URM has been a topic of discussion.  The City of Cumberland has once again approached the Union Rescue Mission in hopes of procuring the Queen City Pavement property for the development of the future transportation hub.  

Multiple potential properties have been proposed as probable sites for the future URM location.  Of most recent, 11 Columbia Street was suggested as a potential property.  This however did not advance beyond the initial discussion phase as the move was not well received by neighboring property owners.  Though understandable, the heart behind the URM is to not only help those in most desperate need of our community, but also to maintain the safety of those we serve, including any and all properties and residents neighboring Mission grounds.

The URM is unique.  A future site for our ministry would require a large building or building site to accommodate for the ever growing impoverish population.  The location would obviously need to be in a geographical area where residential objection would be minimized.  The current location allows for adequate accessibility, centrally located in town allowing those served to walk and find the resources they need.  Size, zoning and centralization have limited the available options, and yet the lack of current space has lead the leadership of the URM to consistently discuss and pray for future plans to be made evident.  

Whether the Union Rescue Mission remains on the same building lots and the buildings are razed and rebuilt, or a new location is procured, the guidance and will of the Lord is what is being sought by the leadership of the URM.  Please join us in prayer for clarity of His will and direction for the future structure and location of the Union Rescue Mission.  

Christmas Cheer

The New Year has begun and the Christmas season has come to a close.  December brings a certain kind of busy to the Union Rescue Mission.  Multiple ministerial opportunities overlap during the Christmas season, bringing both the opportunity to love and share the love of Christ, as well as the ability to meet the needs of families throughout Allegany and surrounding counties.  The two main outreach events were kept in line with the previous year’s events, continuing the Christmas Food Box ministry as well as sponsorship of local children for Christmas.  The busyness of organizing these programs is far outweighed by the joy and thanksgiving of the recipients, as the true heart of the giving season is witnessed by all involved.   

As with Christmas of 2020, the URM partnered with the Western Maryland Food Bank who packed the food boxes for families in need in our area. These boxes were then coupled with a 10 pound bag of chicken, donated to the URM for distribution by Pilgrim’s Pride of Moorefield, West Virginia.  Multiple local churches returned to volunteer as box pick-up sights for recipient families.  Recipients were notified of their personal pick-up location and time, helping to connect these community members to a local church.  The URM in this particular program now acts as the hub, organizing and directing the boxes, the recipient lists, and the pick up sites.  The local churches hand off the boxes to the individual or family in need, allowing for a personal connection to be made.  Our hope is that those who came to these pick-up sites found more than just a Food Box.  We pray they found a caring touch, a warm heart, and words of Hope rooted in Christ.  We pray that through this Food Box exchange, one who is in need and potentially lost can be found by the local Church, and hopefully then directed to Christ. In total, 500 food boxes were packed and distributed to families in need as identified by local agencies.

Sponsorship of children for Christmas is another avenue of service that is witnessed during this season at the URM.  Children from families actively living at the Mission, from those who have moved from the URM to permanent housing over the past year, and for those who seek services regularly at the Mission are given the opportunity of being sponsored by a community member for Christmas.  This year, 54 children were gifted the blessing of having presents to open on Christmas morning as a result of this ministry.  As a result of the generosity of giving hearts in this community, every year we are blessed with the opportunity to organize and coordinate Christmas for these families.

Thank you to all those who volunteer their time and resources to make both of this programs successful!

Welcome to URM Team, Lily and Meg!

The Union Rescue Mission has had some recent shifting in our team with the replacement of one member and an addition of another.  Morgan Miller, our previous Female Case Manager, had announced her departure as an official team member in the fall, pursuing her new, vital role of raising her daughter.  We congratulate Morgan and her husband, Travis, on the birth of their daughter and wish Morgan nothing but the absolute best in her new role!  Morgan will forever be an honorary team member at the URM!

We are blessed to announce and welcome Lily Eby as the new Female Case Manager of the Union Rescue Mission!  Lily is not a stranger of the URM, having volunteered her time serving meals from the kitchen with her family, assisting in chapel services, and volunteering her heart and kindness in ministries involving the children of the URM. Lily is currently pursuing her associates in Human Services at Allegany College of Maryland.  She has the desire to be in life long ministry, serving the least of these anyway she can, with a hope to return to a refugee camp in Greece in the future.  Her compassion and patience for the least of these is overwhelming and an excellent addition to the URM staff!

We are equally blessed to welcome Meg Mohler to the team as Administrative Assistant!  Meg has joined our team to assist in organization and completion of daily office duties, as well as work on procurement of foundational grants.  Meg’s previous workforce experience leaves her grossly overqualified, and we are thankful to have her organizational skills and experience to utilize.  Meg’s heart to go above and beyond for the population of the URM coupled with her business skill set are a huge asset to our team. 

Please join us in welcoming both ladies to the URM staff! We are blessed to have them as part of the Mission family!